Is It Really Possible To Worship God On A Bad Day?

Dear Friends,

Back in the summer I was really struggling with my frozen shoulder.  The pain had got so bad that it wasn't just  certain movements which caused me pain.  The pain was pretty constant, whether I was doing something or sitting still.  The physical pain was also affecting me emotionally, mentally and spiritually.   I really did not feel like worshipping God.  In fact, to be honest, it was the last thing I felt like doing.
Worship is fine when things are going well with us.  We come along to church on a Sunday and join in with the praise and worship – we feel like worshipping God.  During the week we worship God in our hearts and attitude easily because we feel like it.  It comes more naturally.

We are called to worship God.  Paul writes in Romans 12:1 " And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”  (NLT)

 

But what about when your life feels like it’s falling apart in front of you?  When you are suffering with long-term health problems, when someone you love becomes sick, when your spouse walks out on you, when your child rebels, when you have financial problems, or you are in danger of losing your home?  Is it really possible to still worship God then?

 

We can learn a lot from King David who wrote Psalm 13 when he was a fugitive, on the run from King Saul.

 O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
² How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

 

³ Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!

     Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.

⁴ Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”

     Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

 

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me. (NLT)

 

David is totally open and honest with God - he tells him exactly how he's feeling.  In v2 he asks God four times “How long?”  Is that where you’ve been or perhaps are right now?  How long is my suffering, this hardship going to go on?  When’s it going to end?  How much longer?  When you are in the midst of hardship it can feel like forever.

David feels like God has forgotten him.  That God doesn’t care about him anymore.  He feels abandoned.  He feels like God is looking the other way, ignoring what David is suffering.  Have you ever felt that way?  That God has forgotten you? 

 

It can be very hard to feel God’s presence when we are suffering. But, our feelings are unreliable.  We can't trust them, however, we can trust God and his Word.  God has promised us that he will never leave us and never forgets us.

 

David is saying to God in v3-4: “Are you listening?  Will you hear me?  Will you do something?  I can’t take it anymore.  Don’t let my enemy win.  Don’t let me be overcome.”

 

At times it can feel like we will be overcome by our troubles.   That they are just too much to bear.  That perhaps life is just not worth living anymore.  It’s all just too hard and got too much for us.  But when we go to God he give us the power and strength to keep standing, to overcome.

God wants us to admit our weaknesses, to admit our need of him.  He wants us to come to him and ask for his help.

 

When life is going well we can have a tendency to think we don’t need God’s help.  Troubles remind us that we do.

 

In v5-6 we see that by turning to God, by opening up his heart and being real, and by praying to God, David’s perspective on life has changed.  His situation and circumstances are still the same, but his outlook and attitude is different now.

Going to God has allowed God to work in his life and his mind so that he can move from fear to faith, from worry to worship.  Now that David’s focus has shifted from his situation to God he is able to worship God.  We can follow David's example.

 

David worships God for who he is.  He doesn't say God has been good to me, he says God is good to me.  God is good - it's his character, who he is.  Therefore, whether I'm experiencing a good or bad day, God is still good.

 

David remembers how God as always been there for him in the past and he is confident that God will be there for him now and always.  God has never failed him and will never fail him.  He is able to put his hope in God.  We can have that same confidence in God as we look back over our lives and remember his faithfulness.

 

David chooses to respond in worship, "I will rejoice" and "I will sing".  He may not feel like praising and worshiping God but he makes the choice to praise God anyway.

 

So we learn from David that it really is possible to worship God on a bad day by:

• Crying out to God - being honest with him about what we are going through and how we are feeling.
• Go to God with our troubles -knowing that he is the source of our help.
• When we do this, we open ourselves up to allowing God to work within us.  Our focus shifts from ourselves to focusing on God – making him the centre of our life.  We are then free to choose to  give God our praise and worship.

The question is: Will you and I do this?

To Think About:
What is your natural reaction when in the midst of a trial?

Will you go to God, tell him exactly how you are feeling and look to him for his help?

Will you choose to focus on God rather than your trial or circumstances?  What are some practical ways you can worship God?

Vicki